henry harrison was replaced by john tyler in 1840. zachary taylor by millard filmore in 1850. in both instances these vice presidents departed dramatically from the policies of their predecessors and revealed faultlines within the ruleing political party. these precedents not so different from the election of 1864 were not far from the minds of americans as they contemplated lincoln's election. "past experience shows that the choice of vice president of the united states is almost as important as that of president. in the case the latter dies or becomes unable to perform the duties of the office, they fall to the former. we should not vote the most persuasive explanation for the choice of johnson on the ticket, the most pervasive explan flagsex explanation for this choice, "lincoln picked johnson in order to give legitimacy to lincoln's policy of war time reconstruction and the union occupied south, particularly tennessee, arkansas and louisiana." lincoln was eager for these states to be welcomed back into the union under loyal leader